Professor Kirkland and the Golden Masquerade
by Rainy-UK
Summary: Hey! Peter here! You won't believe the mystery we've just solved... In Venice Italy some strange curse has been put onto the city and the supposedly result is destruction of the city! It's all to do with that mask... Strange or what?
1. Start

"_Dear you,_

_I'm writing to you about my adventures with the Professor (well my older brother but he said I should call him Professor) about when we solved the big mystery of the Golden Masquerade. It was a great travel from and loads of fun. So I thought I might right about how everything happened in book for you. I can remember what happened, when, why, ect. It's just one of them things I can't forget since it's so awesome!_

_Okay that's it for my letter now but you can read the book._

_With Love,_

_Peter Kirkland"_

* * *

Professor Kirkland: and the Golden Masquerade

My brother leaned back against his chair in the cab; we both stared out the window as the cab slowly swerved past Big Ben. He seemed pretty relaxed did my brother but I don't know why he's gotten into wearing that Sherlock Holmes hat… He won't take it off now… I on the other hand preferred to just stick to my hats; you wouldn't catch me dead in his hat, no way! But I did admit, he looked rather nice in it. Grown up, gentleman like and sensible… It made him look like everything he wasn't.

"Arrrthuuur? Are we there yet?" I whined fiddling with the straps of my bag, "I'm thirsty… Got a drink?"

Arthur looked at me and frowned, "Excuse me?"

I blinked and swallowed, Oh I forgot. I _had_ to call him 'Professor' now; he managed to finish his university studies and got a job. He's actually doing well in life even though I annoy him to hell. I was surprised of course, my older brother? A professor teaching Physics and Chemistry in a University in London? No I couldn't believe that either…

"Professor… _Even_… Got a drink? I'm thirsty…" I spoke in a less whiny voice. Arthur sighed and shook his head.

"Sorry Peter, but do tidy up your manners its not gentle man like to do that in public. Don't whine please… We'll stop off at a café to get some tea before we get there okay?" he smiled and petted my head.

I pouted childishly, I was childish back then. Incredibly childish, my brother was so obsessed with being gentleman like. It made me feel sick but of course I did respect him still. In some ways Arthur was a role model to me. I didn't admit… Never… But still he was my brother and so I guess it was his job to be a good role model for me.

"But we're in a cab! That's not public is it?" I muttered and folded my arms and slouched back in the seat. Arthur sighed and pulled me up a little so I'd sit up.

"We have a cab driver don't we? He's a member of the public so you must act gentleman like at all times… Also… Don't slouch like that it's –"

"Not Gentleman like I know…" I interrupted and frowned more.

He blinked and let out a chuckle, "Yes, yes it is my dear brother but I was going to say. It's bad for your back. But if you insist on that then yes it's not Gentleman like…" Arthur smiled and adjusted his hat, quietly chuckling to himself.

The cab pulled up by the side of the road and we both got out. Arthur paying the driver and giving him some tip then we walked down the road together.

"Where are we going anyway?" I asked looking up at Arthur, "Who we going to met? Why do I have to go? Can we have some tea now?" I started to whine again. Arthur tutting a little but still managed to smile.

"Ah well if you'll just slow down on the questions and quit whining then I'll answer…" he replied still relaxed as ever which was starting to freak me out.

I nodded my head and sighed, "Oh… Sorry…"

Arthur chuckled again and continued to walk, "Ah well we're going to go to the National Museum a friend of mine is waiting there to meet me. This friend used to study with me in university and we got along quite well. So this will be this first time we'll meet in a while now but I thought it'd be nice if you tagged along. Besides I couldn't really leave you at home and oh sure let's just stop here…" he stopped and opened the door of a small tea room café and let me in first.

That answered a lot of my questions, but I soon thought of many more while we drank our tea and had lunch with a large helping of desserts. Mmm Chocolate cake…

Soon after a lovely lunch, we walked to the museum in search of Arthur's friend.

"My friend says that he'll be waiting in the Cafeteria…" Arthur gave a small nod and looked at the mass of people in the area.

"P-P-Professor! How do we know who's your friend?" I stuttered. He chuckled and nodded his head.

"Oh easy! He's sat at the table…" he smiled and pointed at the far corner table.

"E-e-eh but which one?" I stared.

* * *

Puzzle 1 – Find the Friend

_Professor Kirkland and Peter walk into the Cafeteria to look for their friend._

_People A, B, C, D and E are all sat together in a single line. 1 of them is the friend of the Professor while the other 4 are new to him. _

_B is sat next to E, C is 2 seats away from A. B is sat next to 1 person and D is sat next to 2. E is a stranger and the 5__th__ person in the line is sat next to another stranger. But that person is sat next to a stranger and a friend._

_What order are they sat in and who is the friend you are looking for?_

_

* * *

_

_Send in your answer via Review and if see if you've got it right in the next chapter. People's names who've got it write will be written up at the start of the next chapter._

_Thank you and good luck~!_


	2. Offered a flight

Solution to Puzzle 1 – Find the Friend

_Congrats to MelodyOfStarshine for getting the answer right~!_

_The answer was that person A, would be the friend and the order they sat down would be: B, E, A, D, C._

_If you think about it long enough it's not that hard. If B is sat next to only 1 person then B must be sat at the end of a row. B also must be sat next to E. Person D is sat in the 4__th__ seat so that's where we put him making B in the 1__st__ seat and E in the second._

_The position of A and C is just down to luck and gut instinct._

_(This puzzle was borrowed out of a puzzle book XD )_

_

* * *

_

"Oooh I see him Professor!" I chuckled putting my hands on my hip and smiled looking up at my brother.

Arthur laughed and adjusted his hat again, "Ah took you long enough to work that one out…" he looked down at me and returned the smile. He lead the way to reunite himself with his old friend, it was a young man around about the same age as my brother. He had brown hair with an odd brown curl on his head which looked like a Quaver crisp. The man smiled and stood up seeing Arthur and put his hand out to shake the other. He had a certain little sleepy but jolly look to himself wearing a crisp white shirt and grass green waist coat, to top it all off a smart well done up black tie which was carefully tucked behind his waist coat.

"Arthur my good friend!" he laughed. He had a slight Italian accent, "Or should I say… Professor!" he gave Arthur a playful nudge and laughed again.

Arthur chuckled shaking the hand of his friend and nodded his head, "Ah so nice to see you again Feliciano!" I stared at them both a little lost with what was going on. I didn't catch anything that was going on. But it did seem that the man was Italian. His name sounded Italian anyway.

My brother looked at Feliciano then back at me and chuckled, "Peter this is my friend Feliciano Vargas from University we used to study together. He was a student from Italy and we became very good friends."

The Italian smiled and offered his hand to me. I took it and shook it gently.

"Nice to meet you Mr Vargas I'm Peter, Professor's little brother." I smiled a little the Italian seemed nice enough.

"Ah that's really nice to meet you Peter! It's great to finally meet you!" he replied shaking my hand happily. 'Finally meet me'? I take it that Arthur mentions me a lot in phone calls and letters. Though I can't really see why as the only thing I really do is to annoy him but we've seem to have gotten over that part of life now.

Arthur chuckled and nodded his head, "Ah so why did you want to meet us?" he had to ask didn't he? I sighed and put my hands in the pockets of my shorts fiddling with a little 10pence I found a while ago.

Feliciano's smile grew and he sat us down at the table and put his hands on the table, "Well~! I thought it'd be nice if you and your brother would come back with me to Venice, Italy. We're going to be having a big ball celebration soon for the city's anniversary and I thought why not let you two enjoy it too."

Our smiles grew in sync and we nodded our heads, "Oh yes please that'd be great!"

Feliciano laughed and nodded his head, "Then it's settled! I thought you would say yes! Oh here are some tickets for the air flights and maps and instructions for our next meet! It's all written in this notepad…" he tapped his hand on a little A5 sized notepad. He laid down two flight tickets next to the notepad and a couple of leaflets about Venice.

Arthur picked up one of the leaflets and smiled, "Ah the city of Masks! I can't wait, thank you for offering it to us Feliciano this will be a good experience…"

The happy Italian nodded his head and smiled, "Your welcome and I'll be seeing you at the airport in Italy then." He got up and gave a small wave then walked off his polished shoes making a gently tapping noise against the marble floor.

I picked up one of the tickets and grinned, I had a sudden rush of excitement and I really just wanted to stand on a table and shout 'YES' really loud. But of course I would have humiliated myself in front of lots of people and my brother would have disapproved by a mile. So I sat there grinning my head off instead.

Arthur looked down at me and chuckled picking up the notepad and opening it, "Let's see what we need to do now…" his green eyes scanned the page.

"Well that seems a bit odd…" he muttered and looked back at me, "Looks like we need to solve this puzzle before we know what the date is for the flight…"

I blinked and looked at the plane ticket it was marked with a date it. I groaned, "Urgh I hate puzzles…"

Arthur chuckled and gave me an encouraging pat on the shoulder, "Every puzzle has a solution just don't give up! Okay let's give it a shot then…"

* * *

_Puzzle 2 – When?_

_Feliciano had written the instructions into the notepad. At first glance the date of when the flight doesn't look clear at all. But when you read them over and think about it they make perfect sense._

"_If yesterday's day after tomorrow is Monday. What would be tomorrow's day before yesterday? That day add another day will be the day of the flight. "_

_What day is the flight?_

_Send in your answer via review. People that got the answer right will be in the solution in the next chapter._


	3. The myth of the Golden Masquerade

_Solution to Puzzle 2 – When?_

_Congratulations to cutekittenlady and Ace Aero for getting the answer right~! The answer was that the day of the flight would be on Sunday._

_Confused how? Let's solve it slowly then._

_Yesterday's day after tomorrow is Monday. So in other words if it is referring "Tomorrow" as Monday, which means "today" is Sunday._

_Therefore tomorrow's (Monday's) day before Yesterday is Saturday simply add another day to that and it's Sunday~! _

_(Puzzle based from Professor Layton and the Unwound Future)_

* * *

Arthur chuckled and put the tickets down on the table again, "There that wasn't so hard then was it?" I blinked and looked at my fingers my brain still knotted up from that puzzle. I found it too confusing for to work out on a Sunday…

"So what day is it today again Peter?" he tilted his head and looked at me. I blinked again and tilted my head in the same direction as my brother's head.

"Eh? It's Sunday today…" I replied. We both stared at each other in a little silence then stared at the date we worked out then stared more.

"MY GOODNESS IT'S TODAY!" Arthur yelped a little and stood up from his seat immediately then grabbed hold of all the objects and with the other hand grabbed a hold of my hand and made a run to catch a cab.

"EH? WHAT TIME?" I yelled a little trying to keep up with the speed Arthur was going. Lucky for us there wasn't another puzzle to work out the time otherwise we could have been there for quite a while then.

"3'o'clock sharp!" he muttered and took a glance at Big Ben, "We have an hour to get packed and checked in at the airport!"

I blinked looking at the clock then frowned, "And I'm not missing that flight!" I muttered then grabbed hold of my brother then ran home there wasn't time for a cab. I threw the door open and randomly grabbed at the clothes in our wardrobes and threw them into a suitcase.

"Ah ah Peter! A gentleman's suitcase is never in a bad state…" he tutted and folded the clothes gently and placed them in. I groaned, we had less than 45 minutes left to get to the airport and yet he still had time to be 'Gentlemanly'.

Arthur closed the suitcase casually then looked at me as I slumped back on the arm chair, fiddling with the strap of my satchel.

"Come on Peter a gentleman is never la-", I interrupted my brother and dragged him down the stairs and pushed him into a cab.

"The Airport please and quickly!" I commanded to the cab driver who gave me a firm nod and drove to the Airport as quick as he could.

After paying the driver and checking in we ran through the airport to catch the plane. We just got lucky only having seconds to spare.

Arthur and I slumped back in the seats of the plane and gave out a dragged sigh. What a relief it was too close for calls.

"My my Peter… I've heard that it's good to be fashionably late but that wouldn't be nice in this situation…" my brother muttered and rubbed his eyes. I nodded my head still a bit red in the face from running.

After a bit we calmed down then flicked through a couple of brochures about Venice. It turns out they are exhibiting a new feature in the city's main museum. The exhibit focused on the old folk tales about monsters and Gods. Arthur seemed rather interested in that story, as did I.

"According to this story," started Arthur, "Venice used to be a city next to the sea and never actually used to have the cannels they have now… In the myth of the Golden Masquerade it says that the Gods had a party in one of the squares in Venice and did so every night. The main God of the Earth wore a Golden Mask which had an almighty power that could indeed destroy Venice and in fact the whole world. But that God was good and never used that power of the mask for bad and never had any intention to actually use the power of the mask against the world. But a Demon named Vodyanoi was a demon of the deep sea and wanted that power to flood the world and make a dark kingdom of depths. Vodyanoi got his hands on the mask when the Earth God became drunk at a party. Full of joy Vodyanoi put on the mask and started to use the mask to flood the world starting with Venice so he could drown the Gods. But the power was too great for Vodyanoi and the waters rapidly came in drowning him first. But still the waters kept rolling in drowning many villagers. The Goddess of gates and canals saw the water coming in near the square so she parted the streets making ditches so that the water wouldn't reach the square. Eventually the waters calmed down and then Venice was left with the canals."

I took all the information in quite mesmerized with the whole story.

"Apparently they've found a mysterious looking mask in one of the canals on the outskirts of the city. It could be possible that it might be the mask in the myth…"

I blinked then laughed, "Oh surely Professor! You don't believe that story do you?"

My brother closed the brochure and tilted his head, "Why ever not? I see no reason of why it could be false though I do see your point Peter…"

When we got off the plane Arthur lifted his head to look at the weather forecast screen.

"Ah it's going to be sunny all week then~!" he chuckled. I nodded my head and smiled at my brother.

"Ah that reminds me of a puzzle Peter… What to try it out?" he chuckled and looked at my horrified face.

* * *

_Puzzle 3 – Weather or not?_

_There are five weather forecasters getting ready for a weekend forecast. Each forecaster is predicting different weather and is choosing a suit and tie of a different colour combination._

_There are 3 men (John, Matt and Tim) and 2 women (Karen and Sarah)._

_Can you work out the colour of the suit, the colour of the tie, the pattern on the tie and the weather prediction for each weather forecaster?_

_Here are the clues:_

_The forecaster who wore a black suit did not predict snow or rain._

_Many of the viewers called in to comment on the whimsically printed tan tie and brown suit combination._

_The five forecasters were: Matt, the woman who predicted high winds, the person in the black suit, the man with a striped tie and the women in an olive suit._

_A solid white tie was chosen to represent the snowy forecast that day._

_John's orange tie was hated by his wife._

_Sarah had a teal coloured tie which was not floral._

_Time predicted sun and did not wear brown or black._

_The man who predicted rain did not wear a striped tie._

_The blue suit was worn by a man._

_Hint: This would be easy to work out if you worked it out in a grid~!_

_Send in your answer via review. People that got the answer right will be in the solution in the next chapter._

_

* * *

_

_Note: **Please note that the following events and the myths and places are all FICTIONAL and are not real!**_


End file.
